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Lief
Lief is the current King of Deltora and the husband of Jasmine. He is the son of King Endon and Queen Sharn. Lief, along with Jasmine and Barda, found the lost gems of the Belt of Deltora and banished the Shadow Lord from the land of Deltora. Afterwards he went on a quest with them to find the three lost parts of the fabled Pirran Pipe, the only weapon said to be powerful enough to fight the Shadow Lord within his own domain. With Barda and Jasmine he ventured into the Shadowlands and used the Pirran Pipe against the Enemy, freed the imprisoned Deltorans and brought them back safe. On their last quest together, Lief, Barda and Jasmine reunited the seven last surviving dragons of Deltora, defeated four dangerous creatures who were slowly killing the land with a poisoned song and stopping the Shadow Lord's last plan to conquer the land. Lief grew up in Del, in Topaz territory and is from the Del tribe. History Early life Sharn was pregnant with Lief toward the end of Part I of The Forests of Silence, and Endon mentioned that he would be born be summer's end. ''The Forests of Silence'' and Jasmine as they appear in the anime.]] On Lief's sixteenth birthday, "Jarred" and "Anna" gave Lief a Sword crafted by his father, a special cloak created by his mother and a quest to recover seven mystical and powerful Gems scattered throughout the land of Deltora. Lief was entrusted with the Belt of Deltora (a magic steel belt which was made by the first King of Deltora to bear the Seven Gems and defend Deltora) and the responsibility to restore the Gems to their rightful places on the Belt. The Gems were each hidden by the Shadow Lord's servants (the seven Ak-Baba) in the most dangerous and terrifying places of the land. Lief was surprised, however, when he was told that he would have a companion on this dangerous Quest. Barda, a local beggar who was familiar to Lief, was to join him. Lief was dismayed at this news until he learned that Barda, a palace guard, was only posing as a beggar to gain information from careless Grey Guards and to hide himself behind an effective disguise. Barda had also been protecting Lief for many years without Lief’s knowledge and had, in fact, saved Lief’s life earlier that same night. Lief and Barda set off that eventful night towards the foreboding forests of silence where they were saved from the Wennbar by a wild looking girl who lived there. The girl lived in a nest (of sorts) up a tall tree with a small furry animal called Filli, and a Raven called Kree. The girl’s name was Jasmine. With Jasmine's help, Lief and Barda confronted the first gem’s guardian, the former Jalis knight Gorl, and defeated him. Barda was mortally wounded by Gorl and would have died without Jasmine's quick thinking and the magical powers of the fabled Lilies of Life. The Topaz was recovered and Jasmine joined them at their quest. ''The Lake of Tears'' A couple of days into their second destination, Lief, Barda and Jasmine reached a bridge with a golden-eyed man holding a curved sword, blocking their path. He forced the trio to answer three questions before they could come across. If they answered correctly, they would be allowed to cross, however if their answers were wrong, he would have to kill them. Jasmine and Barda answered correctly and crossed to the other side. Lief's answer, however, were wrong (due to lack of information). As a result, the man claimed that he must die. Alarmed, Lief claimed that the man was a trickster and deceiver and that he is not surprised that he was doomed to guard the bridge until truth and lies were one. Angered, the giant decides to play another game: deciding which way Lief will die. Lief must say only one sentence, if it is true, the giant will strangle him, if it is false, the giant will cut off his head. Instead, Lief decides to say "My head will be cut off." This answer is true and false, and as a result, Lief cannot be killed and the man is returned to its' original form, a bird. The bridge starts crumbling, and in a desperate attempt, Lief runs across it. However, Lief is not fast enough and halfway across, the planks break off, leaving a terrified Lief dangling on the ropes, as he drags himself across. The ropes break, and Lief believes that he is doomed to die, but the man that turned into a bird saves him from hurtling into the hard rock below. Lief is reunited with his companions and the three of them continue on their journey. The trio climbs up a nearby tree to escape a troop of Grey Guards. However, the guards choose the clearing to be their resting area. With the guards is a prisoner. The captive is actually an exhausted Ralad in chains. Soon, the guards fall asleep and the three companions decide to save the Ralad. However, they are caught, and are forced to run with the Ralad in chains behind a troop of angry guards. While escaping the guards, they are forced to take a detour - into rich-smelling berries and fruit, which mask the trio's scent from the Grey Guards. The Guards give up on searching for them and laugh as they walk away. The companions decide to go deeper in the valley, where they can get rid of the Ralad man's chains in comfort, and not in fear of being caught. Lief decides to search for food and finds a sign, which appears to be broken in half with the words: "RING AND ENTER" on it. Next to the sign is a bell. He notices a cheery little house and notifies Barda and Jasmine. The three decide to ring the bell, and run towards the house. However, the lawn that they run on is actually quicksand. Floundering and screaming in the quicksand, they finally get the attention of an elderly couple. The couple manage to save the threesome and invite them into their cottage. After being saved, Lief finds the second piece of the sign: "WARNING OF QUICK DO NOT". Pieced together, they make the warning sign: "WARNING RING OF QUICKSAND DO NOT ENTER" Barda and Jasmine become suspicious over this, however Lief takes no notice, thankful for the couple for saving him. They introduce themselves as Nij ''and ''Doj and invite the trio into their house. Barda and Lief are thankful, as they miss the delights of home. However, Jasmine is hesitant to enter, as she has never been in a house before and dislikes being in small spaces. Nij and Doj speak in a strange dialect. This does not affect Lief, Jasmine and Barda, as they believe that they are only trying to be helpful. As Jasmine is still uncomfortable and not relaxed at all, she starts worrying about other things. She asks Lief whether the Belt of Deltora is still on his waist. Alarmed and then relieved when the Belt turns out to be still in place, he starts cleaning the topaz. Nij and Doj come back in with food and drink, but instead of talking in their usual dialect, Lief hears many disturbing things. The language they were speaking was not actually a different language at all, but ordinary words turned backwards. The drinks and food were drugged, and Lief is too slow to stop Barda from drinking from his drink. It is in this chapter that Nij and Doj's names are revealed to actually be Jin ''and''Jod, two of Thaegan's children's names spelled in reverse. Desperate to save his friends, Lief realised that cleaning the topaz cleared his mind and the spell placed on and around him. He quickly grabs his friend's hands and forces them on the topaz. All is revealed and the three start devising an escape route. While pretending to be asleep, the bell used to trap the victims is rung yet again and both the monsters go outside to save the person (the Ralad) in the quicksand. Using this diversion, the three run outside, but are trapped due to the ring of quicksand around the house. The Ralad runs out of the house. The trio see him and try to rescue him from the monsters. Lief notices that the Ralad keeps pointing to his dirty legs and then towards the quicksand. He realizes that the quicksand in between the leaves conceals a hidden pathway. He tells Barda and Jasmine and the trio run towards it, while also trying to save the Ralad from Jin and Jod. Jin and Jod chase after them. Lief, Barda and Jasmine and the Ralad manage to escape through the hidden pathway. Jasmine switches two of the leaves in the quicksand, but is almost captured by Jin and Jod in the process. Jod throws an axe at Jasmine. It hits her shoulder and Jasmine loses her balance and falls into the quicksand. Lief and Barda use Lief's cloak to drag Jasmine out of the quicksand. When he sees Jasmine in danger, Kree returns to help her and is seriously injured by Jin and Jod. Jin and Jod are killed because the leaves were switched. The trio and Manus are safe. Jasmine uses the nectar from the Lilies of Life to heal Kree, but for her shoulder wound instead chooses use a green cream, saying that the nectar should be used for serious healings. Lief, Barda and Jasmine learn from the Ralad that Thaegan has thirteen evil monster children. One hundred years ago, when the Ralads tried to raise their voices against Thaegan when she turned the great golden City of D'Or into the Lake of Tears, she in turn put a spell upon them, stealing their voice so that they could not speak anymore. Thorns rapidly spread there. The Ralad, whom name is revealed to be Manus, takes them to Raladin, his home town, which they find to be deserted. Grief-stricken and believing his people are lost, Manus withdraws a flute and starts playing it, which summons the people of Raladin. They had built an underground city just beneath Raladin, to hide from Thaegan and the Shadow Lord. Lief, Barda and Jasmine are offered the chance to rest in the city, and three days later they continue their quest with Manus to show the way to the Lake of Tears, despite the reluctance of the Ralad people, who think it is folly to travel to the Lake of Tears. When they get to the Lake of Tears, they find it to be guarded by a giant green sea monster, Soldeen. The three friends fight it, and barely escape with their lives as Lief throws two of the supply packs the Ralads had given them into Soldeen's mouth. The companions spend the night on the rocks near the Lake. As they debate on how to find the gem, the trio begin to despair and feel sad, and, touching the topaz, Lief realises that they must fight these feelings. He begs Manus to play his flute, to make them think of times other than this one. As Manus plays, the trio listen, entranced, and so do not hear Soldeen's approach until Manus suddenly stops playing out of fear. Soldeen orders Manus to keep playing, which Manus does. Soldeen asks the trio what they are doing at the Lake, and Lief tells him that they are searching for a special gem that was dropped into the Lake sixteen years ago. Soldeen reveals that he has the gem, but he refuses to give it up without getting something in return. He names the Ralad man as his price, saying that his music comforts him. Lief, Barda and Jasmine refuse to give up the Ralad man to Soldeen, although Manus is willing. In the fight that follows, Lief uses the mind-clearing power of the topaz to make Soldeen help them, and he makes him show them where the gem that they're looking for, the ruby, is hidden. But Thaegan shows up, attacking them and punishing Soldeen for helping them. Thaegan raises her little finger in order to turn the trio into the creatures of the Lake, and it seems all is lost. In order to kill a sorceress or witch, you only need to draw one drop of their blood, but Thaegan is protected by a magic shield. Only the little fingertip of Thaegan's left hand is unshielded, because she uses it to cast her spells. In an attempt to help the trio, Kree flies into the air, and as she's about to cast a spell, strikes down, pecking her finger with her beak, and drawing blood. Thaegan then turns into dust, and the Lake's curse is lifted, and turns into the great city of D'Or, which it was before. Soldeen turns into Nanion, husband of Ethena, and chief of the city. And once again the Ralads can talk. Ethena and Nanion give Lief the ruby. Now the Belt of Deltora holds the topaz and the ruby, and the three companions set off toward their next goal, the City of the Rats. ''City of the Rats'' Having obtained the second gem, the Ruby, and defeating the sorceress Thaegan, thus ridding the Ralad lands of her curse, Lief, Barda and Jasmine spent the next two days with the Ralads in their home city of Raladin. Their mission to restore the Belt of Deltora was still a secret to the Ralads, however their victory over the sorceress was known to all of them. During the time they spent in the city many songs of praise were dedicated to the three companions. It was hard for the trio to leave Manus and Raladin, but they had to set out as soon as possible to search for the third gem. At afternoon, footsore and weary from walking all day, Lief, Barda and Jasmine were moving west, towards the fabled City of the Rats. They were walking on an uneven road, rutted with the tracks of wagons, threading through a plain where the whole land had been covered in thornbushes. Jasmine complained about the thorns, commenting that they were never-ending. Suddenly Barda caught sight of a glimmer ahead. It was a strange signpost with a horizontal piece which had the word "TOM" written on it. Another piece bottom to that, which resembled a lightning bolt, had the words "Everything for the traveller" written across it, with an arrow pointing ahead. Lief and Barda concluded that there must be a shop nearby, owned by this Tom. Jasmine seemed puzzled by this and Lief realized that she did not understand because she had lived her whole life in the Forests of Silence, living only with what she got, and what she could not get she had to live without. The trio continued to walk, talking quietely and trying to forget that they were tired. It soon grew too dark to see, forcing them to light a torch. Barda held the torch and made sure to keep it low, although they knew that they could easily be seen from the air. When Jasmine heard something she told Lief and Barda that they were being followed, not by one, but by many. Since Kree were able not able to see in the dark, it was of no use to send him to scout for their followers. Jasmine concluded that they were at least not Grey Guards, since they moved too quietly and did not march in time. Lief expressed that he thought they should stay and fight, but Barda argued that it would be foolish to try that on a road hemmed in by thorns. So they decided to move on and try and find a better place. Soon the trio came by a dead tree standing on one side of the road. When they passed the tree, Lief felt something had changed in the air. Suddenly they heard the sound of long howl, and Jasmine quickly concluded that their followers were wolves, and that they could not outrun them. Jasmine lit two more torches for her and Lief, with the intention to use the fire against the wolves. However Lief realized that their followers were no ordinary wolves when he commented that they only not make any move until they were past the dead tree. More howls are heard, and the wolves appear out of the darkness. Lief quickly counted the wolves and found that there were eleven of them. He realized that they were indeed not wolves, but the last remaining of Thaegan's thirteen monstrous children. The trio backed away and were suddenly whipped off their feet and caught in a net, losing all their belongings in the process. Some of the siblings began to pike up thornbushes under the net while others picked up the trio's torches, dancing around and chanting, "More heat, more heat, tender juicy roast meat! Watch the fun, till it's done. Hear its groans, crack its bones! More heat, more heat, tender, juicy roast meat!" Lief felt Filli moving against his cheek. Filli started nibbling desperately at the ropes of the net, trying to make a hole large enough for the trio to escape. With his quick wits Lief tricked the sibling to fight among themselves, by commenting on how unfair it was that there were thirteen of the siblings while there were only three of themself. with the winner getting the larger share of meat. All are killed with the exception of Ichabod. Meanwhile, Filli and Kree manages to bite through the net. The trio then manages to run away from Ichabod. In the morning,they find and enter Tom's shop and buy useful provisions such as Fire Beads, Water Eaters, Glowing Bubbles, and Instant Bread. They also bought three legged animals called Muddlets. Despite Tom's directions, the trio don't listen to him and go through the wrong way. The three lost control of the Muddlets as they ran on their own. Lief, Barda and Jasmine followed the Muddlets home, the city of Noradz and become trapped. Noradz has customs that keeps the city vigorously clean. When Filli comes out of hiding from Jasmine's shirt, a Ra-Kacharz mistakes it for a rat and gives the trio two choices, to live or to die. Lief was commanded to pick a card labeled either Life or Death out of a cup. Realizing that both cards say Death, Lief tricks the Ra-Kacharz and the trio is thrown into prison. A girl named Tira managed to free them and shows them the secret way out, by passing through the kitchen trash tube. They survive the dangers of the tube by wearing the Ra-Kacharz clothes that they stole and finally reached the Broad River. Using the Water Eaters, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine crossed the river, only to find that there was overwhelming population of rats. They managed to escape the deadly rats using the explosive Fire Beads and enter the city's center. The Glowing Bubbles come into use and lights their way as they move through the dark. There, Lief starts to hear voices, which was revealed to be of Reeah's, a huge hydra called the King of Rats. The crown atop of Reeah's head housed the opal. Lief realized that the past inhabitants of the City of the Rats were the people of Noradz. He also realized that "Noradz" was a homophone of "No Rats" and "Ra-Kacharz" was a homophone of "Rat-Catchers". The overrun of rats in their city had caused them to move and take up vigorously clean customs. Also, "Noradzeer", which is repeated very often by the people of Noradz, appears to be a homophone of "No Rats Here". Lief realizes that Reeah had set a trap for them with the monster demanding the Belt of Deltora from him. After a fight and growing bored with talk, Reeah attacks Lief, knocking his sword high into the air, and Barda unconscious with its tail. Lief then attempts to throw his jar of Fire Beads into Reeah's mouth. The bead miss its mark but makes an enormous fire .The monster, then catches Lief in its jaws and raises him high in the air. Jasmine, having climbed into the rafters of the hall, had caught Lief's sword, and sliced Reeah's throat to save Lief – though Lief was nearly killed by the fall because of Reeah's height. Reeah's dead body was devoured by the rats in its city, while the fire that Lief had started ravaged the City of Rats itself. Lief then attaches Opal (found on Reeah's head) in the Belt of Deltora and now they head for the Shifting Sands. ''The Shifting Sands'' The three go on their way towards the Shifting Sands from the City of the Rats when they spot an Ak-Baba in the sky. In order to hide from it, they dive under the River Broad and hide under their cloak. Surprisingly, they are aided by the fish of the river as well, which are rather intelligent. Later, once the threat has passed, they pass by an apple farm owned by an eccentric old woman known as Queen Bee. Hungry and tired, they decide to steal and eat from the apple orchard. Queen Bee reveals that she is not actually a fragile old woman, but a dangerous threat because of the bees that she hides under her shawl. The trio are promptly chased off by her deadly bees for stealing. After some time on the road, they reach the town of Rithmere and started hearing about a competition called the Rithmere Games. Thinking they can win some money from it, they attempt to enter. But there is an entrance fee of one silver coin, and they have no money whatsoever. Lief, Jasmine, and Barda decide to let the operator of a game called Beat the Bird borrow Kree to spin the wheel thirty times, for a coin. In Beat the Bird, a bird would spin a wheel after a silver coin was paid. If the wheel lands on a number, the better is paid that number of silver coins. But if the wheel lands on a bird, the better only receives a worthless wooden bird figurine. After thirty turns, Kree senses something is amiss and pulls the table sheet, which reveals that the operator is controlling the wheel through the use of a pedal. The cheating operator then flees, leaving the coins that have fallen off the table sheet to the crowd. Lief, Barda, and Jasmine attempt to take some of the coins, but all that is left is a wooden bird. The three decided to enter the Rithmere Games when they meet a scar-faced man named Doom, who they last saw at Tom's shop. They enter the games, and discover that the "games" are in fact fighting matches. Despite this fact, they enter anyway. Lief, Jasmine, and Barda are locked in their room in the night, but Mother Brightly, the host arrives and saves them. After the fights, Jasmine manages to win the one thousand gold prize for first place. Mother Brightly tells the trio about the secret passageway that they can use to leave. However, upon trying to use it, the trio is ambushed by Grey Guards. It is revealed that there was a scandal that the prize money would be returned to Mother Brightly for the next competition while benefiting from the audience. Lief, Jasmine, and Barda attempt to make off with the coins when Doom comes to them and helps them escape. On foot, they finally reach the walls of the Shifting Sands. Lief starts to hear voices. The three hide from the Grey Guards, who are then eaten by a terrible insectile monster called a Sand Beast. Lief sees the Guards' belongings sinking into the sand and travelling to the center, in a place called the Hive. They arrive at the Hive, and Lief enters the hole full of treasures and replaces the lapis lazuli with the wooden bird to keep the structure of the piling treasures stable. He then climbs out of the Hive just before they are eaten by it. Lief fits the gem into the Belt of Deltora and their quest continues to Dread Mountain. ''Dread Mountain'' Lief receives news from home that his parents have been imprisoned in Del by the Shadow Lord. ''The Maze of the Beast'' ''The Valley of the Lost'' ''Return to Del'' ''Cavern of The Fear'' Lief and Doom head to Tora to (as implied at the time) to find a 'bride.' Lief questions Zean about defeating the Shadow Lord and the subject of the Pirran Pipe arises. Once Lief discovers that Jasmine and Glock have gone to find a secret way into the shadowlands, Lief, Jinks, and Barda follow with Fury. but are captured, then escape and are captured by the Goblins. Reunited with Jasmine and Glock, Lief and Barda make a deal with the Goblins, saying that they would defeat the fear. Lief almost loses his life, but Glock kills the fear, and is honoured by the Plumes People. Lief Barda and Jasmine than take the piece of the Pirran Pipe that Glock had, and head out on the quest to find the other pieces with Flash and Fury. ''The Isle of Illusion'' Lief, Barda, Jasmine, Kree, Filli, Flash and Fury come to the lands of the Aurons tribe. They than launch themselves into the Isle of Illusion, and try to regain the second piece of the Pirran Pipe. ''The Shadowlands'' Lief, Barda, Jasmine, Kree, Filli, Flash, and Fury come to the land of the Keras Tribe, and they agree to give them their piece of the Pirran Pipe for the Belt of Deltora, Lief agrees, and they embark on a mission with a Keras Tribe member named Emlis into the shadowlands, their they are captured by the Bak Pod, and are sentenced to becoming Conversions by Tira and Helena, but Lief plays the pipe leading his people out of the shadowlands into Deltora, and frees Tira and Helena from their Conversion-Worms. ''Dragon's Nest'' ''Shadowgate'' ''Isle of the Dead'' ''The Sister of the South'' Physical appearance In the book series, Lief is implied to be relatively tall (he has to look down at Jasmine to speak to her, but is not as tall as Barda), lean, and athletic. He has short, dark hair, which he inherits from his Toran ancestry, indicating that he also has their dark eyes. The only common attire described that he wears is some form of jacket, boots and his ever-present cloak. In Shadowgate he dons the long, oily outfit of a fisherman of Broome for a while as a disguise. After his encounter with the Masked Ones, his face and neck are left scarred after Jasmine pulled off his mask, which was beginning to bond with his skin. In the anime, Lief is depicted with blond hair and blue eyes. He dresses in a light bluish-green jacket, which somewhat resembles a tunic, over a black jumpsuit and wears white gloves and boots. He wears his cloak, which is a dark blue color over his shoulders. Personality Lief has been described by Rodda as being "a pretty cocky street kid. Good-hearted but not necessarily particularly obedient." Lief was once arrogant and careless, however, his various quests have mellowed him into a more careful person. However Barda continually refers to him as being 'hot-headed', which reveals his energetic and action-oriented nature, as well as the tendency to act on whims at times. He is proud and does not take well to learning that Barda was the reason for many of his lucky life-threatening escapes in the past. He is also initially prone to some other childish tendencies, such as feeling jealous when Dain showed admiration towards Jasmine. Despite all this, Lief is compassionate, kind and good-natured. He is still heavily controlled by sentiment, and lets his heart rule his head on many occasions. This is seen in his initial meeting with Jasmine, in which he struggles with the overwhelming perception that she is ruthless and cruel and the fact that the Grey Guards took her parents away when she was a child, forcing her to adopt drastic measures to survive. Later, when he hears of the powers of the Pirran Pipe, this sentiment makes him pursue Jasmine into the underground sea, regardless of there being 'pipe or no pipe' to be found there. Doom admits that this quality is what makes Lief a better king than he himself. Being raised amongst the citizens of Del in ignorance of his true status, Lief is able to feel extraordinary empathy with his subjects, and is more concerned about their health and safety as a result. The residents of Del perceive him as being a generous saviour, and would willingly give him their lives. Abilities Lief's main ability is his speed. Before going out to collect the gems of Deltora, Lief would dart around the alleyways of Del to avoid being captured and killed by the Grey Guards. Even without Barda's help, Lief was said to be able to escape from approaching Guards numerous times. In the Rithmere Games, Barda said Lief should be in the Speed category. Seeing as Lief was able to make it into the finals of the tournament, it shows that Lief is faster than many others. Aside from his physical abilities, Lief has also shown to be good at math, for his mother required him to study the subject. He's also quite crafty and is able to create numerous plans that often help the heroes escape from dangerous foes or defeat them. However, he has several areas where's he not as adept. One being agility, whenever being forced to climb trees after Jasmine or thinking about the games he played with his friends in Del, he would often stumble or be extremely slow compared to the others. He also has trouble keeping a cool head. He is often bickering with Jasmine about some little thing and is quite rash, throwing himself into the face of danger to protect those he loves. Except for when he is told specifically not to try and do anything, then he can keep himself still. Equipment Lief has carried numerous items with him on his journey. However, there are only a few recurring items. Those would be his sword, forged specially by his father, a magical cloak that blends in with its surroundings, sewn by his mother, and the Belt of Deltora. All of these he has used frequently on his journeys. However, due to the fact that the series has very little fight sequences, Lief's sword is hardly ever used in combat. Often it's used to slash away small creatures such as the ones on the edge of the Lake of Tears and the beetles of the Shadowlands. However, he has used it against The Fear in its titular book. His cloak is often used when the group needs to hide from Ak-Baba or other dangerous foes that can not be fought in a normal manner. The first use of the cloak is in the Forests of Silence, where the three use it initially to try and keep warm while in the tree to hide from the Wennbar. The Belt of Deltora has been used many times throughout the series that it would be quite difficult to record all uses of its magical properties. Therefore, just go with us and say that it is an incredibly important object to the plot of not only the first series, but the second and third as well. Relationships Relatives Appearances Trivia *In the end of The Sister of the South, Lief and Jasmine get married. *Lief could be named after Leif Erikson, a famous Viking and explorer. *The name Leif (see Leif Erikson above) is derived from the Old Norse name Leifr (nominative case), meaning "heir" or "descendant". *Because Lief is a direct descendant of Adin, who was also a descendant of Opal the Dreamer, Lief has Plains blood. He also has Toran blood, considering his mother Sharn is Toran. References Category:Characters Category:Main characters Category:Protagonists Category:Del (tribe) Category:Kings of Deltora Category:Royal family Category:Deltorans Category:Post-Adin Deltorans